Skip to main content

Grandmothers and the Northern Lights

When I used to visit my Grandmother Agnes Dunham in Kalispell, Montana, I remember her telling me that she had “floaties” in her eyes. She described it as “the gel in the eyes have ‘floaties’ meaning there are dark spots in the eyes.” She continued describing the condition saying it is “like having a piece of lint on a camera lens.”

For some reason, I have always remembered her description. I have always had “floaties.” I have always ignored them but if I concentrate, I can see my floaties.

Because of my strokes and the loss of vision on my right side, I am very conscious about my eyes. When I first had symptoms before my strokes, I had 7 of what I thought were migraines. My vision on my left side seemed wavy and on the right side, on the top I had auras like the Northern Lights.    

I now know that those headaches and auras are classic signs that you might have a stroke. Even though I had an MRI because I was concerned, they did not find anything, and I had my first stroke three days later on January 10, 2012.

After the “big” stroke, I lost part of my right visual field. For me, I see fine, but it is like a horse with blinders on the right side. I do not notice that I do not have right side peripheral issues.

When I am falling asleep, I see prisms like stop signs on my right visual field. I hoped that shapes were my eyes healing. I still see those, but I just do not notice anymore.  

Last May, I had an “incident” and the doctors and nurses told me "it was NOT a seizure."   My neurologist said I should take anti-seizure medication “just in case.” I hated the side effects, and my regular doctor agreed I should stop taking that medication. And I did after consulting with my neurologist.

Fast forward to January 20, 2014 last month, I had a full blown grand mal seizure. It started in the Capitol building and I walked to my office three blocks away. I did not remember anything after my office when I woke up at St. Al's in intensive care.  

 I realized I had the same symptoms like in May. The symptoms were different than my stroke symptoms.

When I had "not-a-seizure-just-a-brain-incident" in May and the grand mal seizure last month, I had an aura. It centered on the bottom of my right eye, and I had two vivid perceptions like a cartoon bubble. In the bubbles, I was seeing a memory of two seconds ago. I did see a slight aura on the top of my right visual field but not pronounced like when I had strokes.  

After the seizure last month I have also noticed that my right “pinkie” finger is not working like it used too. When my big second stroke happened, I was essentially paralyzed making my right arm useless. It came back soon because of acupuncture. But now, since the seizure, I have issues like numbness with the pinkie finger, tremors in my hands, and my left eye lid spasming slightly.

Part of it, I have two anti-seizure medications in my system.  I am hopeful that when I stop taking one of those medications and I get used to the drug, it will even out. 

Everyday is a new adventure! 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Phantom Blindness and Taking a Break after Strokes

I met with my eye doctor last week about taking some time off from my vision therapy. I have been doing therapy since my stroke almost two and a half years ago. I am tired, and a need a break. My doctor said, “This is completely understandable. Take some time off.” At the appointment, my doctor tested my vision. Because of the strokes, my vision was affected, and I have a problem in my field of vision on the right side. I have a deficit with my right side peripheral vision. However, it is getting better. During the test, I told him that I “sense things on the right side of my peripheral vision.” It seems that I know that something is there, but I cannot really distinguish what it is. He told me that there is a body of thought describing phantom vision or phantom blindness. A Polish researcher, L. Bieganowski, described this phantom blindness this way:    “The subject of the paper is the phenomenon of phantom vision. It occurs among the blind (or almost blind...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is wrong with us! A lot: Aphasia, Apraxia, and Dysarthria

This morning, from 10:30 to Noon, at St. Lukes in Meridian Idaho, I participated in the “Aphasia, Apraxia, and Dysarthria Support Group” started a year ago through Idaho State University. We meet weekly.  So, what is wrong with us? Aphasia is the name given to a collection of language disorders caused by damage to the brain. A requirement for a diagnosis of aphasia is that, prior to the illness or injury, the person's language skills were normal. The difficulties of people with aphasia can range from occasional trouble finding words to losing the ability to speak, read, or write, but does not affect intelligence. This also affects visual language such as sign language . The term "aphasia" implies a problem with one or more functions that are essential and specific to language function. It is not usually used when the language problem is a result of a more peripheral motor or sensory difficulty, such as paralysis affecting the speech muscles or a general hear...
Post a Comment
Read more

January

January 10th was the 13th anniversary of my first stroke. After 18 days in the hospital (including my second massive stroke were I lost almost everything) we celebrated my son’s seventh birthday. I wanted to celebrate my son‘s birthday but I had no idea the sensory overload would cause. The flashing lights, the unbearable noise of the crowds and the music, and loud conversations caused me to panic. In the midst of my brain damaged confusion, I had to go to the bathroom. At that point I really didn’t know how to navigate the restaurant even though I had been there many times. I didn’t know the concept of letters and I didn’t know what “men” and “women” were on the doors. My little son gripped my hand and said, “Daddy… I will take you to the bathroom.” Stumbling through the crowded restaurant I was scared. My son guided me to the proper door and asked if I needed any more help. After I finished I came out and he grabbed my hand and took me back to the booth. In January this year, We cele...
Post a Comment
Read more